Chinese GP data reveals main problem with Ferrari’s 2025 F1 car. Key indications regarding the issues of the Ferrari SF25.

Clarifying the chaos at Ferrari after the Chinese Grand Prix is not an easy task. During the same weekend at the 5.451-kilometre Shanghai International Circuit, we saw a strong SF-25 single-seater, especially with Lewis Hamilton in the Sprint race, followed by a less impressive car in the qualifying session, competitive in the first part of the race with Charles Leclerc despite a broken front wing, while his Maranello teammate struggled significantly.

So how can we understand what works and what does not on the SF25? To cut through the initial thoughts, the shocking news of the double disqualification for technical reasons, which were actually different from each other, of both Ferrari cars came a few hours after the Chinese GP, marking the first time this has happened in history. Starting with this latter aspect, the Maranello team’s double mistake is barely excusable. A top team like Ferrari cannot afford to make such elementary mistakes, such as bringing a car 1 kilogram underweight to the finish line, citing the excuse of a single pit stop, which, however, was the strategy adopted by nearly all the cars on track this time. Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification for excessive wear on the rear part of the floor instead reveals what had already been suspected during the Australian Grand Prix weekend, which is that at Maranello, the issue of ride height is a particularly delicate aspect concerning the performance of this year’s car.

Lewis Hamilton stated that after the Sprint, the ride height change was minimal and had no impact on performance, which is plausible, but it also led to excessive wear, implicitly confirming that what happened in Melbourne after the extremely positive Friday for the red car was exactly, as initially hypothesized here, that Ferrari’s engineers and technicians had to cautiously raise the car’s ride height in order to avoid the risk of disqualification at the end of the race. The SF25 therefore needs to work with extremely low rear ride heights to find performance, which worked excellently in the Sprint, but at the same time indicates an imbalance that, in race configuration with a full tank of fuel, proves to be much less effective.

A key point is the fact that the rear end changed as much, if not more, than the front. At the SF25’s unveiling, much attention was given to the new front suspension, redesigned with the system switching from push to pull-rod, but this overshadowed the fact that there were also major changes to the rear end, even though the suspension layout remained the same. Last season’s focus, to limit aerodynamic bounce and porpoising, was on the rear end, and the SF25 boasts a completely rethought rear in every aspect. However, this seems to have brought with it a series of issues, and we are now starting to see the common thread. During the Bahrain pre-season testing session, we noticed a car balance that highlighted a particularly strong front end, almost unusually so, given the natural understeering tendency of this generation of cars.

The rear was unstable during all tests, on a track like Sakhir, which is particularly “rear limited.” Arriving at the Albert Park circuit in Australia, the car seemed very fast on Friday, but after the free practice sessions, the ride height was raised to avoid the aforementioned wear issues, and performance suddenly disappeared, along with a significant loss of downforce. Last weekend in China, the SF-25 car was effective in the Sprint, where minimal ride height adjustments could be made due to the short length of the race, but in the race, an interesting anomaly emerged

Lewis Hamilton made a series of setup changes that did not necessarily raise the car (otherwise, he wouldn’t have been disqualified) but made it more neutral. What seemed like a choice aimed at protecting the front end during the race turned out to be a modification that lightened the rear, making the car much more unpredictable, oversteering or understeering depending on corner speed, fuel load, and the moment, putting the seven-time Formula 1 world champion in a major performance crisis as he could not predict and anticipate his car’s behavior. On the other hand, Charles Leclerc found himself with a car that had a very significant damage to the front wing, which, by necessity, shifted the car’s balance much more toward the rear. In effect, the Monegasque driver’s car became understeering but with a more predictable behavior and a rear end that was more effective in proportion. As a result, the Ferrari driver found good pace despite (a lot) less aerodynamic downforce, which, as long as he could, he compensated by pushing the tires more. For this reason, Charles Leclerc appeared quite fast as long as he could maintain his pace, with a realistically podium-worthy potential, but then had to give up in the end, letting George Russell pass and losing position to Max Verstappen due to a set of tires that had been overused compared to the competition around him. It is also not a coincidence that the Monegasque driver was impressed by Mercedes‘ traction out of turn 13, as a weak rear limits traction, and although SF25 number 16 had become rear-biased, it still lacked the 30 points of downforce estimated by the pit wall.

Putting the pieces together, it becomes clear that the weakness of the rear end of the SF25 should be the focal point right now. One hypothesis is that the combination of the new rear wing, beam wing, and diffuser does not generate enough downforce in standard configuration, and the Maranello engineers are forced to work with extremely low ride heights to compensate, but this either risks disqualification as in China or forces them to give up performance as in Australia. Another option is that the rear downforce is there, but they cannot find a good mechanical balance to make use of it, possibly due to difficulties from the aerodynamic package’s revolution. This could also be why technical director Loic Serra didn’t go to Shanghai but instead returned to Maranello to try to work on a solution, as after a weekend off, there will be a tour de force with 3 races in 3 weekends. The first will be Suzuka, and paradoxically, the SF25’s front-end strength and the few slow corners may allow the Ferrari to perform well. However, the following race in Sakhir, where rear-end downforce is crucial throughout the Bahrain weekend, will require a solution if they want to fight for something important.

In all this, of course, McLaren secured its first double podium of the 2025 Formula 1 season, well-deserved, with Lando Norris making the job easier for the Woking team by taking second place at the start. The gap Oscar Piastri inflicted on George Russell, the first of the pursuers and author of another excellent race, was 11 seconds at the finish. Certainly a lot, but not the half-minute leads we’ve seen in recent times, at least for now. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris definitely managed the race but not in a more conservative way than those chasing them, and if they could have chosen, they would surely have preferred to extend their lead a bit more before taking full control of the race.

The McLaren advantage is significant but not unbridgeable for the competition, especially for Mercedes and, if they get it together in some way, for Ferrari. The team that seems to be struggling technically is Red Bull, which only made it to the end of the race thanks to Max Verstappen’s driving skills and talent, who didn’t take long to define his car as the “fourth force” after qualifying. Now, there will be a short break for everyone before one of the most iconic tracks on the calendar, the Suzuka International Circuit in Japan.

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